JUNE. 



227 



stamens of the rose " yellows" in the following pretty 

 lines of his " Fairy Wedding" 



" I think for her I have a tire 

 That all fairies shall admire ; 

 The yellows in the full-blown Rose, 

 Which in the top it doth enclose, 

 Like drops of gold ore shall be hung 

 Upon her tresses." 



A curious fact in the structure of the corolla of the 

 rose that the five sepals of its pitcher-shaped calyx 

 have a particular arrangement, gave rise to an old 

 monkish enigma, implying the popular attention 

 given to the circumstance. We thus translate the 

 rhyming latin : 



Five brothers take their stand, 

 Born to the same command ; 

 Two darkly bearded frown, 

 Two without beards are known ; 

 And one sustains with equal pride 

 His odd appendage on one side ! 



If all enigmas like this induced the examination of a 

 plant, they would not be so excessively stupid, or 

 given up so readily as they usually are. In this case 

 the " five brothers" are the five sepals of the calyx of 

 the rose, where usually two are fully pinnate or 

 bearded throughout, two are simple or beardless, and 

 one is pinnate on one side only. This may be verified by 

 reference to a dog-rose in any hedge, but it hardly 

 applies to the Chinese or Indian roses. 



In the East, roses have been ever especial favourites 

 from the earliest times ; beds of roses are no poetical 

 figure there ; and in Persia, according to Sir E,. KEB, 

 POBTEE, every garden and court is crowded with its 

 plants ; every room is fragrant with ever-replenished 



Q2 



